Friday, March 09, 2012

Negativland

Remember what I was saying about the 90s? Well, Negitivland was another group from that time period that put some weird stuff together. Where EBN was about the media, Negitivland was about everything else. Due to this, they sometimes got a little preachy.

JC on a stick with sprinkles..... This is the track that most people know, sadly. Look, I love Negitivland and some of their stuff is really great, but I truly loathe this track. When I said they get preachy, this is what I was talking about.

Look, it's nice to have a message, and I respect that. But here's the deal: once you've gone past being an artist to just standing on a soapbox and blabbing away, you've lost me. Make it danceable, funny, or--at the least--listenable and I'll be yours forever. Beat me over the head and I'll run for the hills.

Hey, alright! More Pepsi hate!

Oh, and here's the song that got them sued.

Here's "Michael Jackson" from 1987. I think this got them sued as well.

And, for no good reason, here's the Fatboy Slim remix.

Do you know how many time zones there are in the Soviet Union? Eleven! That's ridiculous.

And there's the story. I doubt that Negitvland had anything to do with a kid taking an axe to his family, and it's sad that this happened, but blaming a band for an unhinged individual doing unhinged things is preposterous.

> Look, it's nice to have a message, and I respect that. But here's the deal: once you've gone past being an artist to just standing on a soapbox and blabbing away, you've lost me. Make it danceable, funny, or--at the least--listenable and I'll be yours forever. Beat me over the head and I'll run for the hills.

Agreed. See also: Consolidated.

P.S. While Negativeland's intentions in the aftermath of the Brom case can be best described as meta-criticism, there's also an element of opportunism that seems to escape the recognition of most folks.